Patience is such a hard one. It is part of the fruit of the Spirit, and I don’t know about you, but it is probably the one that I struggle with the most. We have heard, “patience is a virtue.” How true. And, “Lord give me patience and give it to me now!” Of course that is jokingly, but we don’t like to go through the trials and challenges that will lead to patient. We are (or at least I am) impatient people. We’ve heard that we live in a microwave society. We are just too uptight. We don’t like to wait. I imagine maybe this is less so in other countries? Anyways, then there is longsuffering. What is the difference? They seem to be interchangeable.
Continue reading “Patience and Longsuffering”Category: Spiritual Life
Rejoice!: The Fruit of the Spirit
What brings you joy? Do you have joy? It’s not the same as happiness. To me, happiness is a feeling based on circumstances. Joy is contentment regardless of circumstances. That is what Jesus gives us through the Holy Spirit. That is what He gave me. Though sometimes I just need to remember His goodness, listen … Continue reading “Rejoice!: The Fruit of the Spirit”
What brings you joy? Do you have joy? It’s not the same as happiness. To me, happiness is a feeling based on circumstances. Joy is contentment regardless of circumstances. That is what Jesus gives us through the Holy Spirit. That is what He gave me. Though sometimes I just need to remember His goodness, listen to the Holy Spirit, and show it.
Continue reading “Rejoice!: The Fruit of the Spirit”Fruit of the Spirit: Love
The previous posts we talked about hope and faith and how they were intertwined. I also mentioned that faith was part of the fruit of the Spirit, so I thought it would be interesting to go through each one. Let’s examine each component of the fruit of the Spirit. Again notice fruit is singular. We who are in Christ have all of these, not just one, or a few.
Continue reading “Fruit of the Spirit: Love”The World We Live In
When the Bible talks about “the world” what does that mean? We live in a world full of people. We live in a world full of trouble. God created the world (the earth and everything in it), God so loved the world (the people of the world), but we are to not love the world (worldly affairs and systems which oppose God; I think that’s what is meant when Jesus says that we are in the world but not of the world). Something like that. Let us see what God’s word has to say about it.
Continue reading “The World We Live In”Be the Church, Go to Church
Growing up, my parents made me go to church. It was a struggle. Every Sunday morning, every Sunday night, every Wednesday night, every church event, youth group, revival, Billy Graham Crusade, etc. Ugh! And you know what? Now that I am older, I am so thankful that they did. I learned who God was, I saw what it meant to be part of a church community (both the good and the bad), and I saw people who were good examples of how to serve as God would want us to serve. Of course, we all know that the “church” is the body of Christ, it is not a building, it is the people. It is a community, a family. As we discussed in the previous post, we are sons and daughters of God in Christ. We don’t just “go to church,” we are the church. Therefore, we need to gather together and be a part of the church.
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My Daily Scriptures 